Saturday night at the Mars Bar, a place I've been past hundreds of times but never gone in, I had a chance to see Replicator. Before they went on, Lower Forty-Eight did four songs. Laws and Devil insisted I go.
I got there after me infecto had started and had to dash off before Freeverse were slated to go on. As it was, I ended up missing the last bus home and walking about five miles after an exhausting day.
I'd never heard anything by any of these bands but I really enjoyed it all. Noisy, messy, raucous. Of the three I saw, Replicator seemed to have the best stage presence, largely due to Conan's antics. He wanders out in to the audience, armed with a guitar or a microphone, exalts at the altar of the amplifier, leaps and convulses in the throes of some ecstasy which transcends lyricism.
Lower Forty-Eight is a three man band, like Replicator. Their set could have been longer, what I heard of it was great. Loud, sardonic and exuberant. I felt bad that I hadn't brought enough cash to buy any schwag from them. Of course, if I'd spent money on schwag and thus voided the possibility of a cab home, I'd probably have felt even more dumb, with an armload of crap, stranded at the Transit Center.
me infecto was already in full swing when I arrived and I couldn't really see or make sense of it because I was still transitioning from my mad dash to get to the venue. But I'd probably see them again. There was a simplicity to the duo's sound that seemed potentially interesting. Sorry to give them such short shrift, here; it's not them, it was me.
I don't know anything about Freeverse but I guess the Replicator guys like their work so if you like Replicator, maybe you'll like Freeverse.
posted at 09:29 PDT (-0700) (comments disabled) permanent link
